ABSTRACT

This chapter examines constitutional judicial review in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) from the 1990s to the present day. Hong Kong occupies a unique position in Greater China as the only former British colony. Despite its supremacy, the Basic Law is not the sole source of fundamental rights in the HKSAR. Fundamental rights are recognized in Part III of the Basic Law and in the Bill of Rights Ordinance (BORO). BORO served to assure the Hong Kong people and international investors that Hong Kong would continue to abide by international human rights standards following the handover of sovereignty from Britain to China. The Basic Law guarantees the independence of the judiciary and created the of Final Appeal to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the Special Administrative Region's court of final adjudication.